Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah chapter 40, and we're gonna read verses 21 through 31. Isaiah chapter 40, and let's start in verse 21. Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown, yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do praise you for your sovereignty. We praise you for your power, Lord, that is evident to us in all of creation. And Lord, in spite of that great power and your great holiness, we thank you for reaching down to a lost and sinful people. And Lord, sending your Son to die in our place to pay the penalty for our sin and for restoring, giving us the opportunity to restore our relationship with you. And we thank you for that love that you demonstrate each and every day, the mercy that is shown to the world each and every day. And Father, I do pray for those of us that know Christ as our Savior, that we would see the condition of the world today, that we would remember your mercy and your grace to us in showing us the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. I pray that you would give us boldness to share this gospel as we are given opportunity. And Lord, we do pray that as you are working sovereignly in the nations of the world today, that your people would be moved to shed the light of the glorious gospel. Pray for your blessing on the message today. Lord, it's our desire that what we do today in our singing and reading Scripture and our prayers together that you'd be pleased with our worship. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I invite you this morning to open your Bible to the book of Joel. The book of Joel, for those who are joining us today, we're in a series in this little Old Testament prophet. It's been a wonderful series and we've just witnessed as we've gone along how grand and sweeping Joel's prophecy is. And we're now in the section of the book that focuses on the last day. So Joel is now, as a prophet, looking way forward in time to the very last days. We saw in a previous message in Joel 2.28, there's mention of it coming to pass afterward and the events that are described there prophesy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So from Joel's perspective looking forward to the day of Pentecost after Christ's ascension to heaven. And then Joel 2 verse 30 says, I will show wonders and the wonders that are described there telescope forward in time to the period of the Great Tribulation in the last days. And then Joel chapter 3 verse 1 says, For behold, in those days, and what follows is a description of events leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ. And so Joel's prophecy is sweeping. It's grand. It's looking forward through the portals of time across the centuries, even to the future from our standpoint today. Well, beginning in chapter 3, the prophecy in Joel, shifts its focus from the people of Judah to the Gentiles, to the nations of the world. And last time we considered the fate of those nations that were foreshadowed in God's judgment upon some specific nations. There's mention of Tyre and Sidon which would be major cities in Phoenicia and then the region that we now refer to as Philistia. And God did judge those people and that serves as an example and a warning to the nations of the world that this is what God will do to you also. So last week we considered the fate of the nations foreshadowed. Today we want to consider the fate of the nations foretold. as we have it here in Joel's prophecy. I want to re-read today Joel 3 verses 1-3 and then we'll skip down to verse 9 to our passage we're going to consider today. For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my people and have given a boy for an harlot and sold a girl for wine that they might drink." Then skip down to verse 9. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, prepare war. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen. and gather yourselves together round about. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, get you down, for the press is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake. But the Lord will be the hope of His people. and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore." Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank You for this phenomenal prophecy that You, through Your Holy Spirit, inspired the prophet chord for us for our benefit today. As we peer into this amazing prophecy, may You give us insights. May You open the eyes of our understanding, open our hearts to be responsive. to recognize that you are the sovereign God, that you are controlling all of the events that we see on the headlines, that you have a plan, a plan for the nations, and you are working that plan. And so may we trust you, Lord. May we come to trust you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, in this passage, the Lord puts the nations of the earth on notice. And his proclamation, the proclamation that he once proclaimed to the nations is pretty amazing. He speaks in very stern terms, prepare war for the day of the Lord is at hand. Now, as we read through this passage, you're going to see various words that are used to describe the nations of the world. You're going to see the word Gentiles. You're going to see the word heathen. In all cases, this is referring to all of the nations other than the nation of Israel, God's chosen people. So this passage is really directed toward the Gentile nations, toward the nations of the world. In fact, this is a proclamation that is to be given to the nations. Verse 9, Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles. This is a message directed to them. It is ominous. It is an ominous proclamation that God wants the nations to prepare for war. Now let's just back up for a second and recognize that Joel's prophecy is crucial to have a proper understanding of what we call eschatology, the study of the end times. But to understand what Joel is saying, we have to look at it in the context of the whole of biblical prophecy that deals with the end times. And we have to kind of put all the pieces together. So I think it would be helpful for me to give you the big picture and to see where Joel's prophecy fits into this big picture. We are now living in what the Bible calls the last days. We're living in the end times. And the next event on the prophetic horizon is the rapture of the church, when Jesus will come back, will be in the sky and will receive all of the true believers unto Himself and take them back with Him to heaven. And that will usher in a seven-year period which is called the Great Tribulation, a period of great tribulation on earth. And at the beginning of that tribulation period, an individual will come to the fore whom we call Antichrist, whom the Bible calls Antichrist. And this figure will be kind of this unifying figure He will convince the nations of the world to sign on to a peace treaty, a global peace treaty. A treaty that will include, of course, the nation of Israel as well. And so in the first half of this seven-year tribulation period, God's people, the people of Israel, will enjoy a period of brief peace. But in the middle of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will renege, will break his promise, will break the peace treaty, and will in fact gather the nations against Israel. And there will be a period of unprecedented persecution for God's chosen people during the last half of the Tribulation. And as the Tribulation period comes to the end, the nations of the world will gather together and amass their armies for a final epic battle against the people of God and against God Himself." And the Bible refers to this and we refer to this in eschatology as the Battle of Armageddon. That is what is in view here in Joel's prophecy. Joel's prophecy has to do with that event. at the end of the Tribulation, an event we call the Battle of Armageddon. The message of Joel's prophecy is very clear for us. The message is this, the fate of the nations is certain. The fate of the nations is certain. It's predetermined by God. God has it all mapped out. And the application of that truth Because the fate of the nations is certain, you must individually make sure that you know the Lord. That's important. Well, how does Joel describe the fate of the nations in the passage that we're considering today? First of all, we see that the Lord will gather the nations for war. Verse two makes it clear that this is the Lord's doing. The Lord says, I will gather the nations. The Lord has a plan for the nations and he's working his plan and his plan ultimately involves war. In our passage, and especially beginning at verse 9, we see the warriors of the war and we see the weapons of the war. The Gentile nations are told to assemble their mighty men, their great warriors, their strongest and mightiest, their best. The Marines has this slogan, we're looking for a few good men. I think they now say men and women. But the idea here is a whole bunch of these really good men and women, a whole bunch of these mighty warriors gathered together. In fact, these are not just the rank and file. This is referring to the kings and the generals and the field marshals and the officers of every rank. These are the mighty men that are to be assembled for this war. But note also at the end of verse 10, it says, let the weak say, I am strong. And it's interesting in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament where it says, I am strong, it says, let the weak, literally it says, let the weak say, I am a mighty man. So the rank and file are filled in by people who are conscripts and volunteers for this great war. And they're all determined to prove their valor in this epic war. This will be a grand international fighting force the likes of which the world has never seen. Unprecedented. Unprecedented in size and in might. In military capability and might. The armies of all the nations will be assembled together to do battle against the Lord's people and against the Lord himself. That's the warriors. And then we have some indication of the weapons. Look at verse 10. It says, beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Swords and spears. These represent the kind of weapons that would be used in close hand-to-hand combat. When you can see the eye of the enemy. When you can maybe even smell them. Maybe you can even touch them. Swords and spears. Now this doesn't rule out that a wide variety of modern mechanized weapons might be used and even high-tech weaponry might also be used. It's also possible that maybe all of that's going to be rendered ineffective for some reason. But what's in view here in the prophecy are these weapons that would be used in close combat. And perhaps the implication here is there might even be the use of guerrilla warfare in this particular war. But the verse emphasizes the transformation of every available scrap of metal to be reformed and reshaped into a weapon that can be used in war. Plowshares refers to the metal piece of a plow that would be reshaped. Pruning hooks refers to knives that are used to prune the grapevines. These would also be hammered out and reshaped, perhaps melted down and reformed into these weapons of war. Warfare calls for extreme measures. Probably a few here that were alive back in the time of World War II. But during World War II, the U.S. government called upon Americans to salvage various materials in support of a war effort. Collection centers popped up everywhere to collect these things. There were these so-called scrap drives. And they collected paper and aluminum and copper and iron and steel and tin and rubber and silk stockings. And then one that really I thought was quite interesting The federal government created the American Fat Salvage Committee. How many have ever heard of this? The American Fat Salvage Committee. Okay, here's what they did. This is serious. This was to convince housewives to save their excess cooking fat. You say, what in the world for? Well, actually there's a lot of things you can make out of cooking fat, soaps and other various things. But there was one very important key ingredient that was in cooking fat. glycerin. And that glycerin could be used to make various high explosives. Perhaps you've heard of nitroglycerin. And so that glycerin would be used in nitroglycerin and dynamite and blasting caps. The whole idea was there is this tremendous war effort going on and the nation was on alert and everyone did their part and they collected these scraps so that they could be used for the war effort. That seems to be what's happening here in Joel. I mean, the direction is to all the farmers to gather up all your scrap metal. In fact, sacrifice your own plow and your own knife that you would use to prune your vines. Give up these things for the war effort because this is a great war. This act of weaponizing farm tools may indicate a couple things to us. It may indicate a rapid armament following a period of disarmament. Remember that this is happening after this global peace treaty. It could be that there would be disarmament taking place in the first half of the tribulation only to be reversed in the last half of the tribulation. He might also just indicate the sudden need for a massive number of weapons because of the number of the conscripts and the volunteers that are joining this army to do battle against the people of the Lord. I think it's entirely fair to view this epic battle as mankind's final jihad against Yahweh. And I use that term advisedly. Could it be that we are seeing today events happening in the world that are setting the stage for this very event to happen? Could it be? Because Yahweh, Jehovah, is the God of the Jews. He is the one and only God. And Yahweh, as we've seen throughout the book of Joel, will defend his people He will fight for them. Now if we zoom forward in time and we go to the very end of our Bibles, we come to the book of Revelation. We're going to spend a little time in that book this morning. In the book of Revelation there is a beast described there. This beast will form a global military alliance to make war, we're told, with the saints. the saints of the tribulation. And ultimately, he will make war with the Lord Himself. This isn't just a global battle. This isn't just global warfare. This isn't just a world war. This is a universal war. This is a spiritual war. A war between the forces of good and evil. Well, because the fate of the nations is certain, you must be sure that you know the Lord. And the first element we've seen here of the Lord's prophecy concerning the fate of the nations is that the Lord will gather the nations for war. He will gather them. The warriors and the weapons will be gathered together. Secondly, we see in this passage that the Lord, once these nations are gathered, the Lord will judge the nations for their wickedness. We see this described for us in verses 12 through 14. These verses describe the fate of the nations in terms of divine judgment. The nations of the earth are going to experience the outpouring of the judgment of God. Look at verse 12. Let the heathen be wakened. come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about." Back in World War II, there's actually a documentary that's come out to describe the attack, the surprise attack that the Japanese launched on Pearl Harbor. The documentary is called Tora! Tora! Tora! How many have seen that documentary? Many have. Okay. This documentary reenacts Japan's surprise attack. And in that film, Japanese Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is shown saying this, quote, I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve. That's what he's quoted as having said in the movie. There's some question, historian's question, whether he actually said those words, but it's very clear that he feared those things to be true. But there's a contrast here in Joel's prophecy. This is no surprise attack. This is deliberate and planned. This is all orchestrated by the hand of God. And in fact, the Lord calls for the heathen nation here to be awakened before the battle. The enemies of the Lord are to be awake and ready and armed and assembled together in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Last time we talked briefly about that valley. We mentioned that there is no valley in the land of Israel by that name, at least there wasn't until well into the 3rd century, 4th And so it's very likely that this name is actually symbolic. The name Jehoshaphat means Yahweh judges. So it is the valley where Yahweh judges. And we're told here in these verses that we're looking at that the Lord says He will sit and judge the nations. He will sit in judgment. The word that was used back in verse 2 indicated that the Lord was in the role of prosecutor, but now He is portrayed as in the role of judge. He is sitting in the seat of judgment. And He is going to judge the nations. That's the declaration of judgment. Judgment declared. Then we see judgment depicted in verse 13. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, get you down, for the press is full. the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great." God's judgment here is depicted using two different images. First, we see the grain harvest. Talks about putting in the sickle. Now, for the benefit of our young folks who are here this morning, let me just point out, this is not referring to a bicycle, or a motorcycle, or a popsicle. This is referring to an old timey tool that was used on farms, a manual tool. It had a long curved blade and a short handle, and it would be used to reap, to cut down the stalks of grain. So that's the first image that we have here is the grain harvest. And then there's the image of the grape harvest. And it's described here that the grapes are piled really high on the wine press. where they will be crushed underfoot. And we're told here that the vats are overflowing with the grape juice. It may be that that grape juice is suggestive of the shedding of blood in war. So both images indicate that the harvest is ripe, the wine press is full. These both symbolize the overflowing wickedness of the nations. God's own assessment is their wickedness is great. In other words, someday God will have His fill of the wickedness of the nations and He will enter into judgment with them concerning their wickedness. When? Well, let's read about it. Hold your place here and turn over to Revelation chapter 14. Revelation 14. And what you're going to see as I read this passage is some remarkable commonality to Joel's prophecy that we're studying. Revelation 14. I'm going to read from verse 15 to verse 20. And another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud. Thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in a sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." Wow. Is God serious about judgment? Indeed He is. Is God serious about wickedness? Yes, He is. God is serious about sin. God will not tolerate sin. God will not excuse it and allow it to stand. And so for all the nations of the world who reject God's sacrifice of His own Son to pay for their sins, they remain under judgment to this very day. And the day is coming when God will tread them in His winepress. That's what we see. So we see judgment declared, judgment depicted. And finally, back in Joel, we see judgment described. Judgment described. Look at verse 14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. That term multitudes refers to the teeming masses of humanity. And it's repeated for emphasis. Charles Feinberg describes this as, quote, a great sea of surging humanity. The idea is not only are there lots and lots and lots of people assembled together as this great army of the world, but there's all of this kind of random motion taking place also. They're swarming, they're moving about, they're teeming. Now here we also encounter another symbolic reference to the place of God's judgment. Here notice what it's called. It is called the valley of what? Decision. It's the valley of decision. It's the valley where Yahweh will judge the nations and then render his verdict guilty. And God's verdict will stand for all eternity and the sentence will be irrevocable. So we have mentioned in the book of Joel the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of Decision. These are symbolic names, but the repeated use of the word valley might indicate to us that there is indeed a physical valley in view here. The Hebrew word specifically refers not to a narrow valley, but a wide valley, almost like a plain, a wide open plain where all of these armies are assembled together. And we have every reason to conclude that this is a reference to the same place that's mentioned in the book of Revelation, chapter 16, verse 16. And He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. When Terry and I traveled to the Holy Land in 2009, our group was taken to an overlook looking over a very vast and open valley, very plane-like in fact, a huge wide valley. It was the Valley of Megiddo. Armageddon, Megiddo, you see the connection. It's an enormous valley and off in the distance we could see an airport I wondered if it was a military airport. I think I've since learned it was actually a civil airport, but it could be used for military purposes. And as we stood there at that overlook and we're looking over this vast valley, Megiddo, and I thought of the biblical passages that talk about Armageddon, and I imagined with my eyes looking out there and seeing this massive army. The army of the earth, millions upon millions, multitudes upon multitudes assembled together in a futile attempt to do battle with God's people and God himself. You see, this is the day of the Lord. All through the book of Joel we've seen the central theme of the book is the day of the Lord and we've seen that day revealed over the course of time in history even in the time of Joel and then forward to the foreign invaders that would come. But then zooming way forward in time to the great and terrible day of the Lord that will take place in that valley of Megiddo at Armageddon. And in fact, in Joel 3, verse 14, this is the final of five references to the day of the Lord in the book of Joel. We're nearing the end of the story. We're nearing the end of God's plan for the ages. We're nearing the end of God's plan for the nations. The day is coming, folks. The day is coming and that day may be nearer than any of us might imagine. Because the fate of the nations is certain, you must be sure that you know the Lord. How does Joel describe the fate of the nations? Well, he says the Lord will gather the nations for war. The Lord will judge the nations for their wickedness. Thirdly, the Lord will defeat the nations at His coming. We see this in verses 15 and 16. Joel prophesies here of the events surrounding the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, His second advent. And here again we have mention of the signs that take place in heaven and on earth. The sun, the moon, and the stars grow dark. The earth quakes. All of this was prefigured in chapter 2 with the approaching foreign army that was to invade Judah. But here, this isn't a foreign army coming up against the nations. In fact, it's the nations who are really the foreigners, the strangers, the trespassers on the very land of God. They don't belong there. They're on Yahweh's land. And Yahweh Himself is going to come up against them. That's what we see. Look in verse 16. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem. The Lord Himself is coming. You see that Jerusalem is going to once again hear the voice of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming again. He's returning to earth. He will stand in Jerusalem. He will roar out of Zion and utter forth His voice. And the whole earth is going to shake. And He's going to defeat that massive army. And He's going to enter into judgment with the nations. The roaring here is like the roaring of a lion. It is the roaring of the lion of the tribe of Judah. When is this prophecy fulfilled? It's at the second coming. Let's read about it. Turn over to Revelation chapter 19. Do you realize that that little book of Joel is now taking us all the way forward to the very end, the final chapters of the final book of our Bible. Revelation 19, and I'm going to read beginning in verse 11. And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth, what's the next word, judge and make what? War. Is it all coming together for you now? Verse 12, His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. And He had a name written that no man knew but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon the white horses." These are the mighty ones of Yahweh coming. clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Is this not all coming together for you now? Verse 16, And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowl that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse. Which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." The Battle of Armageddon will be a bloodbath of the nations. The Lord Himself will come. The Lord Jesus Christ will lead the fight against these nations and they will be roundly defeated. Their vast armies will be no match for He who is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We should all be convinced at this point that the fate of the nations is certain. The Lord will gather the nations. The Lord will judge the nations. And the Lord will defeat the nations at his coming. And we know how the story ends. We've read about it. We see how how it ends for these wicked nations for their wickedness. And boy, should it motivate us to make sure that we know the Lord. We come to the book of Joel 3, verse 17. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion. He's talking to the people of God. He's talking to the people who know the Lord. These are the survivors. These, in fact, are the victors in all of this. They're the ones who have escaped the judgment and the wrath of God because they know Him. And so God is extending the invitation to us today, to each of us. Make sure that you know me, says the Lord. Make sure that you know me. lest you be among the nations and experience their fate. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we contemplate this vast and sweeping prophecy of the book of Joel and we look all the way forward to the end, when you will enter into warfare and then judgment over the nations. Lord, I pray that we would recognize that there's an individual application of this to us today. I pray for each one who's here and each one who's listening to this message, that each one would be sure that they know you. that each one would be sure that they have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross to pay for their sin, to take away the guilt of their wickedness, and to have the imputed righteousness of Christ, that they might know you as their God. Lord, I pray that you will speak to every believer who's here May they take confidence in the fact that the fate of the nations is certain, that you are controlling and orchestrating all the events that touch our lives, all the events that happen on the world stage, all of the politics, all of the warfare. It's all under your sovereign control and you are going to work things together according to your perfect will. Nothing escapes your notice. Nothing is beyond the reach of Your mighty hand. So, Lord, I pray that as believers we might take confidence in the fact that the fate of the nations is certain because You are certain. Your plan is certain. We pray that You will minister now to our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen.